Chapter 7: Fiery Memories

The Doctor frowned as he tugged at wires madly, yanking them out of their sockets with a harsh crack of static. He zapped the open spaces with his sonic screw driver, forming the holes together to make one big one. Stuffing the screw driver back into his pocket, he placed the wires carefully down and picked up a thick cylinder shaped tin. He carefully locked this into the hole and gave a few taps and zaps, before it finally held. Grabbing the wires again, he began to tighten them together before her eased this into the cylinder. There was a small clunk, before a soft hiss of electricity announced that it was working. Grinning, he turned over on his side and wriggled out of the space and climbed up onto the control floor where he saw a red light flashing. Patting the TARDIS affectionately, he said out loud, "Good girl. We'll get out of this in no time." He smiled and walked out of the doors. A soft sigh whistled through the TARDIS.

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Valhalla looked at the device that sat in front of him with a dull look on his face. For many hours he had sat there, waiting for their prey's ship to begin. But, to no avail. His ears flattened against his grizzly hair as he yawned, each fang shown as his lips slid under his teeth.

A sudden bang behind him made him jump and he whirled round wildly, growling menacingly and letting smoke flow out of his nostrils. Karok walked in, looking just as frustrated as he felt.

"Anything?" He asked. Sucking the smoke from the air in front of him through his mouth, Valhalla shook his head. Karok growled and struck his hoof out, colliding it with Valhalla's chair.

"Why does Tarok keep us from attacking their ship? We know what and where it is! We could simply seize them!" He roared.

"My thoughts are the same, brother, but I am also guessing that Tarok has a good reason. We cannot fail our mission or so do we all pay the price." Valhalla growled, the sadness gripping the words in a tight hold. Karok snarled.

"Why do we not just leave the Sacred King? Can we not find some distant planet and call it home!" He cried desperately, the horns on his head brandishing with the last word as Karok tossed his head. Valhalla seemed only to glare to this, before he calmed and replied, "We are bound to him. We serve him as our Father before us. We cannot fail him, nor can we just flee him. He has his ways, just as any King of the Garthes. We walk alone and yet we serve the King as we would a Brother. So, you must understand that we are here for a purpose. We are here for our King." He clenched his fist tightly in front of Karok's face before turning sharply away to stare at the device. Karok looked appalled and opened his fanged mouth indignantly to prove some other point or way around this, but even he saw none.

He turned abruptly and walked out of the room, small flecks of flames spitting from his mouth. He went down the trail of stairs and down further into the ship, muttering under his breath as he turned corners and opened doors. Finally, he came to a stop and looked up at the glass door that he was about to enter. Upon the glass were symbols, an unreadable language to some alien kind, but perfect for the Garthes. Weapons.

If they will not see sense, Karok thought bitterly, then I will show them sense in the form of two Time Lords and a Human.

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Rose grinned at the look on the Doctor's face as he stepped out of the TARDIS, so happy and bright. He hadn't seen him like this in ages, not since they had travelled back to save Madame Pompadour a few weeks ago. A slight pang of jealousy hit her mind, but she shook it away.

"Ready to go then?" She asked.

"You bet." He replied, smiling widely. Then he caught Tess's eye. "Could you wait inside the TARDIS for a mo, Rose?" Rose looked between them and then caught the gist.

"Yeah sure." She began to walk in when she was stopped again.

"Rose?"

"Yes, Doctor."

"Don't touch anything." Rose puffed her cheeks out at him and strode in, the door banging shut behind her. The Doctor cringed and suddenly had the impulse to go up and soothe the TARDIS, but he held that back and turned to face Tess, who was looking down at the grass.

"Not very useful here," The Doctor started, bending down and plucking a few blades out of the ground and holding them up. "I, however, know of a planet of 6 billion light years away that in comprised of the stuff. Every inch, completely covered in wonderful grass. But the people there, very friendly bunch, use it to make wigs, build houses, weave clothes...anything. But you see, they don't have any water or any other plants or life sources on the planet. So, after a couple of centuries, they get bored and all kill each other. Just for that bit of fun." He laughed sadly. "Imagine that. Stuck on a huge planet where the view is all the same." Tess grinned.

"The hopelessness of grass has been lifted." She said.

"And replaced with a nice little death penalty." The Doctor concluded, flicking the grass away and standing back up straight. The smiles faded away. The Doctor sighed and put his hands in his pockets.

"Do...do you want to ask me anything?" He asked. Tess stared down again.

"Why now? Why didn't this all happen ages ago?" She finally said, piecing the silence like a black arrow in the night. The Doctor looked up to the sky and then down again.

"A Time Lord that has been separated from the rest at a young age is set into a kind of age mode. When you get to a certain age, such as you are now, Time gives itself a kick and reboots the whole Time Lord system. And, hey presto, you're now a Time Lord." The Doctor explained. Tess seemed only to laugh silently.

"Why didn't the Garthes get me sooner? I mean, they practically raised me!" She asked again.

"Mostly the same, you weren't a Time Lord yet, so they couldn't really just whisk you away for no apparent reason." He replied, plopping down on the bench.

"So, if they knew I was going to be, or was a Time Lord, how come you didn't find me sooner?" She asked uncertainly.

The Doctor froze, his face suddenly stern and sorrowful. A question that he'd been thinking every since he'd known it was the Garthes and that Tess was a Time Lord. Something he'd thought that was impossible was now standing in front of him, asking him a question that even he, the Doctor couldn't answer.

"I...I never knew." He muttered. "I thought that all of the Time Lords were gone. I saw them all die, right in front of my eyes I watched my people die." The Doctor suddenly seems lost in his won nightmare, his eyes glazed over with sorrow and despair. Tess felt a cringe of guilt. She should have shut up there and then, shouldn't have asked that question. She now understood the pain. It was horrendous, as though a permanent stabbing in the heart with every fiery memory of that battle, of the end.

The Doctor suddenly snapped out of it, as though an invisible hand had slapped him round the face.

"Anyway..." He said, getting to his feet and brushing the creases out of the back of his jacket forcefully, "I was more on the thought of what would you like to ask me about what you are now? Anything feel, well, that's just a stupid question; everything must feel odd at the moment." Tess laughed.

"No, although I feel like my head is going to explode and that I feel really out of place, I'm good." She replied, smiling a small, happy smile. The Doctor returned this with his brilliant beaming smile and gestured towards the TARDIS.

"Want a ride?"

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Karok breathed in the fresh air outside, filing his lungs with the much needed oxygen for his combustion chamber to ignite, warming him instantly. His skin flared a bright red and his intelligent amber eyes glowed with a sudden thrill. The thrill of the hunt.

He carried a long spear-like weapon in his hand. Round its top was a sharp, glowing head, with metal strands wrapped around its thick bottom, welding it to the long pole. The head seemed to set alight as Karok held it tightly, as though suddenly joint with his mind and emotions. Around his waste was a thick belt, resembling to be made of some skin of a touch animal. It was a faint, battered green and in its straps were sharper knives, its blades carved out of the same substances as the spear head. They too, were glowing eerily, but much softer than the spear head.

In one particular pouch was a small tube, filled to the rim with a blue shimmering liquid. As Karok moved, the liquid sloshed lazily around in the tube, but if looked closely at, small, screaming faces could be seen, tearing at the surface with their gaunt eyes, their wide mouths gawped in a silent scream. Then the face twisted away, dragged back into the blue. If anyone, such as the Doctor or some other species of alien had encountered the Garthes before, they'd know that this terrible substance was called The Tears of the Dead. Its real name was hidden among history and in a language only few Garthes could read.

Karok placed his hand on the tube thoughtfully as he prowled into the forest, devising a suitable plan of action. He spotted no space ship, only those odd blue boxes. They had already confirmed this was human, what they called a Police Box. But Karok had read something different about Time Lords and their technology.

Time Lords, being elements of Time and Space, could of course, travel through Time and Space. That was simple, but their selected use of spacecraft was not so. It had been rumoured that each space craft had a time vortex, the source of the universe. Everything had time vortex, living things, objects, and space, literally everything. This was because everything is made by Time and Space, which basically meant that everything came from a Time Vortex.

So, if these Time Lord Spacecrafts could travel through Time and Space, the Time Vortex would have to adapt to the time it was heading towards. It was a visible camouflage.

But, this box was of a younger time, not of this modern age. Karok growled, but noted the fact that his weapon in his hand was beginning to pull him towards the box. Grunting angrily, he followed, the pole heaving his body with an invisible force, towards the Police Box.

Hey guys, long time no update. Sorry, I just haven't really got round to typing up the next chapter. But, here it is, so lets all be happy and please review, seeing as my story has had loads of hits and yet so many of you haven't reviewed... TT

Thanks to all the people who have been reviewing. Each word was taken into accound and was thought of when I writing this. So, please keep reviewing, because I am so happy, something I don't do much anymore, so please -does faltering impression of puppy dog eyes-

Next chapter to be up soon!